Well, mina_de_malfois has made a triumphant return to form with her latest story, so it's time to revisit Case. (I didn't put up a response to her 2.13 story, because one didn't seem appropriate.) I'll put this up at the Mina fanfiction archive later this week, once I'm home from New York City, but here it is...

A day or so after the con, I was just sitting down to my computer in the
morning, mug of tea in hand, when I saw Nancy's email. Three lines in, I
stopped, finished the tea first, then turned back to the screen.

Good thing I did, too. because I suspect I'd have needed a new keyboard by
the end otherwise. I was tempted to actually call her, but I settled for a
long and detailed reply, emphasizing that no, I was sure Judy didn't blame
her for the whole charlie-foxtrot. Judy has more sense than that. It was
probably just stress from being roped into Ringmastering again, topped by
this sibling revelry situation blowing up in her face. I also told her
that she should find me when she's next nearby--virtually or actually.

Things calmed down a bit after that. Eva, with the rest of the Council's
support, or at least proxy, approved the Space Battles Universes merger,
and it was announced to some fanfare that HGR had worked out an agreement
with the other publishers. All subscribed SBU accounts would be authorized
for various perks, including credit for pre-bought SBU months, rebates and
discounts on SO, and various other ways of balancing the scales. The
financial accountants made grumbling noises, but our goodwill accountant
assured Eva that it would pay off. The "independently-developed" patching
for the merge would be officially licensed and improved with the full
support of the original developer--which, thankfully, meant I got to
finally give my deliberately-shoddy code a proper edit job. That got
appreciation from some of the blogs, for "Sanguinity Online's continual
commitment to Web 2.0 methodology"--I swear, the next time I hear "Web
2.0" I'm going to punch someone--"and the blurring of the line between
user and creator. SO takes UGC to new heights, while still providing
traditional structure for the less interactive users."

Thankfully, we wouldn't have to absorb the SFnal setting of SBU, just the
characters and a translation of skills. I was in meetings with the
Council, and the programming leads from SBU, for a week figuring out what
the best options were. Eventually we settled on creating a new race in SO.
Someone, I don't know who, penned some fast backstory about a wormhole
jump to hell which ended up crash-landing. Weak, but I was sure the
Council could make it work. And I swear, the accent wasn't my fault...

At some point, I was making my usual rounds in SO when I got a message
from Jamie. "Care for another World Tree meeting? This one not so
private?"

Translation: Mind if I see and be seen as we chat? I appreciated the
warning this time. I was feeling better about him in general, ever since
Wands Across. Now that I knew that he knew the difference between the
image of fandom and actual fandom, I didn't mind so much when he boosted
his image, because it actually flowed from what was rapidly becoming
honest fannishness. I slipped into place in the Tree and sent him a pass.

Interestingly, he didn't show up in that military getup this time. He
wandered through the crowd, shaking hands and exchanging kisses, much the
same way he had in the convention lobby. By the time he got to my table
there were two or three people in tow. He performed some introductions,
thankfully only referring to me as "Case." I don't like my relationship to
the Council being public knowledge. Though "PrinceC" managed to make it a
perfect case of "if you don't know who he is, you're obviously not that
important." As a result, I got some seriously squeeing fangirls who had no
idea who they were squeeing over.

One name stopped me--"Ciyerra of Tyana, artist and part-time ghost." I
couldn't place it at first, but something sounded familiar. I murmured
greetings and, once they went on their socially-climbing way, turned to
Jamie. "How do I know that Ciyerra person?"

"She's the one with the art exhibit," he sighed.

Oh-ho, there it was. "The ball-jointed doll thing?"

He grimaced. "That's the one. You've seen it, then?"

I shrugged. "She booked space in a gallery. I had to make sure everything
was up to code. Pun intended."

"What did you think?" he asked as a waitress arrived. We ordered our
drinks and she left.

"Obviously too much imagination, and not nearly enough facts. I was there,
after all, and trust me, I'd have remembered if that took place. You're
not Harlan Ellison, after all," I said, and he nodded vigorously. "You're
not even Appin Dungannon."

"Who?" he asked, momentarily sidetracked.

I shook my head. "Skip it."

"Anyway. I have to admit to being a little...disturbed about what I saw."
The drinks arrived. Toast, clink, sip.

"A reputation as a player isn't good?" I asked as innocently as I could
muster, but I couldn't hold it and started chuckling. "I know, I know,
it's a bit much to deal with. Especially the shots of you from that
threesome with Gravina. I wonder where she got those? Looked pretty
accurate."

He sputtered. "You've seen--who told you about--who else knows--forget it,
I don't want to know."

"Thus lies wisdom. I'll investigate that angle, if you want, find out
how Miss Of Tyana got those pictures. But anyway."

"Yeah," he said, distantly. "What bothers me more than my own reputation
is Mina's. Besides that she's practically been given an entire scarlet
alphabet, have you heard there have been entire fan sermons about the
relative thinness of Mina's model to herself? And fic to match?"

"No, I didn't, and frankly I'd rather not, thank you," I said with a mock
glower. "On the other hand, even I have to admit that the doll Mina was a
bit..."

"Idealized?"

"That's one word for it. If I wanted a woman with the body of a
ten-year-old boy, I'd date a ten-year-old boy. Are you sure this Ciyerra
person is actually female? You'd think a woman wouldn't believe the
highest standard of female attractiveness was a baseball bat with two
basketballs attached."

He laughed at that. "That could have been her point."

"Badly made, then," I said. Suddenly a thought occurred to me. "How'd she
get a pass to the Tree?"

"On someone's arm, I guess," he said. "The exhibit got her a certain
amount of cachet."

"Boosting her own social status by bad-mouthing you and Mina?"

"I know. Despicable, isn't it?"

"Actually, that part doesn't surprise me at all."

He sighed. "No, me neither."

"Friendship is a fickle thing in fandom," I said. "Worse now than the
unwired days, but even then..."

"Social climbers," he spat. "You'd think that fandom would have less of
that. People are in fandom because they love it, not to gain points." He
looked at my carefully neutral face for a few beats, and then had the
decency to blush. "OK, fine. Maybe I understand her more than I'd like to
admit. But I'm learning."

"You are at that," I said, and turned back to my drink.

"Why'd you get into it?" he asked suddenly.

I looked up. "Huh?"

"Why'd you get into fandom? The culture, I mean. Not the sources."

I shrugged. "Someone to talk to. Everything else comes later; in the end,
fandom is just people to connect with."

He looked pensive and sipped his drink.

"You want my advice on this art gallery?" I finally asked.

"...yeah," he said. I understood his reluctance...he'd never been shy
about asking me for advice when he needed it, so it wasn't out of pride.
More, it was wondering if there was anybody who was actually qualified to
advise. It's not as if I'd ever experienced this kind of thing.

"Don't bring it up, first of all. Don't ignore it, but there's no need to
draw attention to yourself." Well, more attention.

"That's a given," he said, and I smiled.

"You are learning. Second, if it gets brought up, don't leap to anybody's
defense, yours or Mina's. If you're asked about them, admire the technical
aspect, maybe comment a little on the construction. Treat it as any other
artwork."

"And if--or when--I get asked about the content?" He wasn't upset, just
worried.

"'Well, Ciyerra has an active imagination.' If they persist, asking you
specifically if something is fact or fiction, 'A gentleman never tells.'"
I smirked at him--he really could pull off the aristocratic gentleman even
better than I could. Then again, I find my chivalry in my actions.

"That's it?" He looked surprised that the solution was so simple.

"That's it."

"Fine, that's me," he said, relieved but by no means satisfied. "What
about Mina?"

Oof. There was the tricky part. He felt partially responsible for Mina's
branding. "Something along the lines of how Mina is a beautiful woman, and
a lady of class and culture, online and off. That should take care of both
halves at once. You can't change everybody's mind. What you can do is be
better than your enemies."

"You're probably right. Thanks." He stood up. "I should go. Thanks for the
conversation. You going to be around?"

"I'll probably be by for dinner some time this week," I said. "Say hi to
your mom for me. And remind me to give you _A Civil Campaign_ one of these
days. You need the honor-versus-reputation speech."

"Will do. Later."